It starts with a beat. Not a heartbeat, but a rhythmic, metallic thumping that mimics the grinding gears of a steam engine. Then comes the bass. When the first trailer Murder on the Orient Express dropped back in 2017, it didn't feel like a dusty period piece or another stiff Agatha Christie adaptation. It felt like a music video for a nightmare.
Most people remember the song. "Believer" by Imagine Dragons blared over shots of lush velvet, sharp mustaches, and a literal mountain of snow. It was a choice that polarized fans instantly. Why use a modern stadium-rock anthem for a story set in 1934?
Because Kenneth Branagh wasn't just making a movie; he was selling a vibe. He was telling a younger generation that Hercule Poirot wasn't just some fussy old man with a cane. He was a superhero of the mind.
The Anatomy of a Perfect Tease
A good trailer is a lie that tells the truth. The trailer Murder on the Orient Express had to do something nearly impossible: make a story everyone already knows feel like a fresh spoiler.
Think about it. The book came out in 1934. The Sidney Lumet film from 1974 is a certified classic. We know who did it. (Well, if you don't, I won't ruin it yet, but come on.) To get people into theater seats, 20th Century Fox had to focus on the scale.
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The camera work in those two minutes is breathless. You see the 65mm film quality—that deep, rich texture that makes the mountains look like they’re made of jagged diamonds. Then there’s the cast. It’s a literal "who’s who" of Hollywood royalty. Johnny Depp looking sinister in a tuxedo. Michelle Pfeiffer looking hauntingly beautiful. Daisy Ridley, fresh off Star Wars, proving she could hold her own with titans.
But the real star of that first teaser? The mustache.
That Mustache and the Poirot Rebrand
People lost their minds over Poirot’s facial hair. In the books, Christie describes it as "stiff and military." In previous versions, like Albert Finney’s or the legendary David Suchet’s, it was precise. Contained.
Branagh went rogue.
The trailer featured a mustache so large it practically had its own zip code. It was a double-decker silver fox of a thing. It signaled a shift. This Poirot was more physical, more tortured. The trailer shows him standing on the tracks, looking at the derailed train like a general surveying a battlefield.
It’s interesting how trailers manipulate our sense of tone. If you watch the 1974 trailer, it’s all about the "puzzle." It feels like a parlor game. The 2017 trailer Murder on the Orient Express feels like a high-stakes thriller. There’s a shot of a figure running on top of the train cars in the dark. There’s a scream. There’s a gun.
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It promised an action movie. What we got was actually a very somber meditation on grief and justice, but the trailer did its job. It got the "Believer" generation to pay attention to a ninety-year-old mystery.
Why the Marketing Strategy Worked
Honestly, movie marketing usually follows a boring template. You’ve got the "In a world" voiceover (okay, maybe not anymore, but you get the point) and the quick cuts.
This campaign was different. They leaned into the "clue" aspect.
- The Suspect Lineup: The trailer stops to introduce each character with a title card. The Governess. The Count. The Assistant. It invites the audience to play along.
- The Isolation: By emphasizing the snowdrift and the broken trestle, the trailer creates a sense of claustrophobia. You’re trapped. There’s nowhere to go.
- The Moral Weight: Poirot’s line, "There is right, there is wrong, and then there is you," sets the emotional stakes.
The production design by Jim Clay and the costumes by Alexandra Byrne are shoved right in your face. You can almost smell the leather of the suitcases. You can feel the cold. That's effective. If a trailer can trigger your senses through a smartphone screen, it’s won.
Misconceptions and What the Trailer Hid
Some fans felt the trailer was a bit of a "bait and switch."
The upbeat music and fast editing suggested a romp. The actual film is quite slow-paced. It’s heavy. It deals with the aftermath of the Armstrong kidnapping—a fictionalized version of the real-life Lindbergh tragedy.
Also, the trailer makes Johnny Depp’s character, Ratchett, seem like a central figure. In reality, as anyone who knows the plot can tell you, he’s the one who gets "deleted" pretty early on. The trailer uses his star power to anchor the first half, making his eventual demise feel more shocking to the uninitiated.
I've watched that trailer probably fifty times. What stands out now, years later, is how it handled the "reveal" of the train itself. The Orient Express isn't just a vehicle; it's a character. The way the light hits the crystal glasses in the dining car while the world outside is a monochromatic wasteland of white and blue—that's visual storytelling at its peak.
How to Watch with Fresh Eyes
If you're going back to watch the trailer Murder on the Orient Express today, look at the shadows.
Branagh uses a lot of overhead shots. There’s a specific shot in the trailer where the camera looks down on the hallway of the train. It looks like a cage. Every character is tucked into their own little compartment, like specimens under a microscope.
It’s a masterclass in "hidden in plain sight" marketing. Every clue to the ending is actually in the trailer if you look closely enough at the positioning of the characters in the final "Last Supper" style shot.
Actionable Steps for Mystery Fans
If this trailer has you itching for a good whodunnit, don't just stop at the movie. To get the full experience of how a trailer translates to a story, try this:
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- Read the 1934 Original: Agatha Christie’s prose is leaner than Branagh’s visuals. It’s fascinating to see what he added (like the fight scenes) versus what was always there.
- Compare the Teasers: Go on YouTube and watch the 1974 trailer immediately after the 2017 one. It’s a lesson in how Hollywood’s "language" has changed. We went from "look at these funny characters" to "look at this existential dread."
- Study the Cinematography: Look up Haris Zambarloukos. He’s the director of photography. He used Panavision System 65 cameras. That’s why the trailer looks so "big" even on a small screen.
- Check out the "Clue" App: Back when the movie launched, there was an interactive website linked in the trailer descriptions. While some are archived, the "clue" style of marketing has influenced how movies like Knives Out and Glass Onion were sold to us later.
The trailer Murder on the Orient Express isn't just a commercial. It’s a piece of pop culture that revived the "cozy mystery" and turned it into a blockbuster event. It proved that you don't need capes or explosions to create a "must-see" event—you just need a train, a crime, and a really, really big mustache.